Samsung shoots at £580 million growth through B2B sales

Company aims to double UK revenues; UK B2B share leaps 12 per cent in single quarter

Samsung has set ambitious targets to almost double UK and Ireland revenues in the B2B market to at least £585 million this year.

The revelation was made during an exclusive interview with Samsung UK and Ireland vice president for enterprise business Graham Long.

Long, who has held the role since 2010, admits Samsung – the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer – has failed to make its mark in B2B particularly when compared to its consumer market figures. He said the firm has been making “heavy” investments in its products and enterprise services such as KNOX to help drive greater traction in B2B over the past 12-18 months.

These include the creation of a 32-strong team focused exclusively on vertical markets, primarily hospitality, retail, financial, professional services and the public sector, as well as forming closer ties with its network partners to help drive sales through their respected B2B reseller channels.

“Historically, we have been very strong in the mobile consumer market but haven’t necessarily had the footprint from a business perspective,” said Long.

“Our objective is that by the end of the year, we will be generating $1 billion (£585m) of revenue of sales into enterprise customers. That figure is an absolute minimum and currently we are ahead of plan in achieving that.

“We have recruited a team of sales guys focused on vertical markets, allowing us to address the needs of each of those industry sectors. They are engaging with the top 400 enterprises in the UK to talk about the Samsung proposition.”

Market growth

According to leading business performance analysts firm Canalys, Samsung’s efforts in B2B since the beginning of the year have had an immediate impact. Its market share in B2B as of Q4 last year was was around 17 per cent, but jumped to about 29 per cent by the end of the following quarter – placing it joint top with Apple. Q2 performance, not yet available, is expected to show further growth for Samsung.

Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling said: “Samsung is quite rightly looking at B2B as a big opportunity and has a good portfolio of products that it can offer to businesses. It has a good range of smartphones and tablets that span multiple price points and sizes. Whatever a business wants, Samsung now has a product for them.”